Face It

Anita woke up with an urge to call her Father. She and her Dad are very close. This was her first week of living all alone outside the comfort of her home. Her new school was quite far away from home. As she picked up her phone to call, she was distracted by a knock on her door.

She rushed to the door to see who it was, there was Alex her flatmate. I was wondering if we could go together to Laura's birthday party? he asked. Oh that would be nice, she said. We can meet downstairs at 6:30pm, Kachi and Stella would like to join too, said Alex. Should we ride our bicycles or take the bus? Anita asked. Which do you prefer? asked Alex. I think we can all ride, said Anita. She was not sure if the bus would still be available when the party was over so she wanted to have her bicycle.

Anita had almost forgotten about this party, good that Alex reminded her. She hurriedly rushed to the mall to find a gift for Laura. She and Laura barely knew each other so it was hard to find a perfect gift.

She met Laura in the Library one Tuesday afternoon. Laura walked up to her with a smile. You are a new student, she said. Anita smiled nodding. Laura was very friendly and offered to give her a short tour around the school after lunch if she had time. Sure, Anita replied. That afternoon Anita joined Laura and a few other students as Laura and two others showed them around. They ended the tour by going to the coffee house where they relaxed with each grabbing a cup of coffee.

It was while in the coffee house that Laura invited her and the others to her birthday party.

The party started out calmly and later became wild when drinks started flowing. Anita was careful with her drink at first but soon went beyond her limit.

She woke up the next morning in the arms of Alex. She jumped up. Oh no, she said. Her head was banging from too much alcohol. She reached for her clothes and ran out of his room. She had no feelings whatsoever for Alex. she hated herself for this act. How was she going to keep living with him in the same flat? she cried all morning. Just one week outside home and then this? How was she going to focus on her studies?

She tried to forget the incident and pretended that nothing happened.

She tried as much as possible to avoid Alex. When he was in the kitchen she stayed way. It was a shared kitchen so this journey would be difficult. It was just two of them in this flat which had a shared bathroom and kitchen.

Anita was not promiscuous and certainly prefered to fall in love before going intimate in a relationship.

She needed to change a room, but this would be difficult since this was a rush period and several students were still on queue for a room. She had no choice but to remain in her flat.

Anita's boyfriend Steve was coming over the next weekend.

Was she going to let Steve know? She and Steve had been in a relationship for two years and they loved each other dearly.

Was she going to let Alex and her drunken night incident take all of that away?

What if Alex told Steve?

Or was she going to be brave enough to tell Steve the truth and face whatever happens?

I call this painting "Face It"